'Ghost Rider' is no trailblazer but worth a watch anyway

'Ghost Rider' is no trailblazer but worth a watch anyway
Looks like Nicolas Cage finally decided to pay a tribute to Marvel Comics for giving him his surname (Born Nicolas Coppola, he adopted the surname Cage from Marvel Comics hero Luke Cage to avoid comparisons and connection with uncle Francis Ford Coppola). How else does one explain him taking on the role of a comic book character in Ghost Rider? This time round, the 42-year-old actor isn't searching for national treasure, or being sacrificed as the wicker man. Instead, he's riding bikes all the while flaming from his hair to toe. Cage dons the skeleton of the Ghost Rider, who in daytime is a stunt biker Johnny Blaze.

The film opens during Blaze's teenaged years, with a young Johnny (Matt Long) grooming himself to become the best ever stunt biker, taking tips from his father Barton Blaze (Brett Cullen) on the finer points of performing stunts that leave carnival visitors gasping. The young lad has a young lady-in-waiting in Roxanne (Raquel Alessi), who reciprocates his feelings much to the annoyance of her father. Johnny's seemingly perfect life, however, takes a turn for the worse when his father is diagnosed with a serious case of lung cancer. At the same time, Roxanne's father decides to pack his daughter off to her mother so he can separate her from the young stunt biker.

Shattered at the first and worried over the second, Johnny is mulling over eloping with his lady love when he is paid a visit by a man Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda), who says he has some work that Johnny might be interested in. When he finds Johnny is not, he offers him his father's life in return for his soul. The young man agrees but learns the hard way that not all promises are kept the way they should be. Making matters worse, Roxanne is sent away by her father and Johnny is left to cope with his losses alone.

Years go by and an older Johnny (Nicholas Cage) earns the reputation of dabbling with dangerous biking stunts, going against the orders of his manager Mack (Donal Logue). Not that Johnny is worried. But the biker's life turns on its head once again when a grown-up Roxanne (Eva Mendes) resurfaces, this time as a hard-nosed TV journalist. Just when Johnny starts trying to pick up from where the young lovers left off, it's time for another reunion, which is not half as pleasant as the first one. Mephistopheles is back and he wants his contract with the younger biker honored. And the job for Johnny includes fighting his son Blackheart (Wes Bentley), the villain who lives up to his name, and his henchmen Gressil (Lawrence Breuls), Wallow (Daniel Frederiksen), and Abigor (Matthew Wilkinson).

Left with no choice but to honor the contract, Johnny is transformed into a flaming Ghost Rider in the night. While the biker is searching for his bounty, Blackheart is busy trying to obtain the possession of an old contract with 1,000 enslaved souls that can help him create havoc in the world. In between battling the baddies, the Ghost Rider also has to protect his lady love. How he goes about doing it is what the rest of the film graphically illustrates.

Though miles away from a spectacular production, Ghost Rider has its high moments, especially in the visual effects. Unfortunately, the film's corny dialogs take a lot of sheen off the breathtaking stunts. While Cage is just about average in the film, Mendes seems to need some serious acting lessons.

Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, Ghost Rider will strike no chord, send no messages and leave no marks. But what it will do is provide you with two hours of entertainment. Expect more and disappointed will run you over.